


Boy, you got me blinded

by jbm_94_bcn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Famous Harry, Fluff, M/M, Non-Famous Louis, a tiny bit of angst, famous/non-famous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 05:26:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12005994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbm_94_bcn/pseuds/jbm_94_bcn
Summary: If Louis wasn’t completely sure that they were on May 22nd, he would’ve bet this was an April’s Fool joke. He couldn’t believe all these important people were seriously proposing he should appear on the cover of fucking Vogue magazine. He wasn’t alone, it seemed like Lottie was about to faint right next to him. He stared at each and every face in front of him, and they weren’t smiling, so this had to be a serious proposal. Actually, there was one face smiling - Harry’s. The fucker was smirking. Louis didn’t like him anymore.Or the one where Louis finds himself modeling for Vogue Magazine next to hot top model Harry Styles and faking a relationship with him for the public, finding along the way more than a new way of life





	Boy, you got me blinded

**Author's Note:**

  * For [losangelou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/losangelou/gifts).



> Here it is!
> 
> This is my first fic ever, so I hope every body who reads this likes it! I'ts been a great experience, and maybe I'll write more in the future. There's a lot of people to thank for this, though!
> 
> @losangelou, thank you for your amazing prompts! I liked all of them, but I chose this one because I just love famous/non- famous AUs, so I had to try and write one.
> 
> To my amazing betta, E. Thank you so much for your patience with my mistakes, and I'm glad you found amusing some of them! If this fic is somehow readable, is because of her, so you can go and thank her on her Tumblr. She is so lovely too, so go and follow her at @polkadotsvstripes.
> 
> To the mods, thank you also for your pattience. Life didn't help in this timetible, so thank you for the chance and for all of you being so lovely.
> 
> The title of the song is taken from Britney Spears 'Baby One More Time'.
> 
> Hope you enjoy all my fic xx

Louis had to be awarded the best big brother of the entire world. He currently sat behind the wheel of his car at 6.45 in the morning trying not to fall asleep as he drove Lottie from Doncaster to London to her work. He looked to his left and saw his sister there, trying not to bite her nails and struggling to remain still in the copilot seat, and he couldn’t help but smile. He understood it, her first big job, and with one of her idols. He was so proud of her he could burst. While their parents had suggested Lottie went to uni and graduate in something, she refused. Make-up was her passion and she decided she was going to fight for it, and she did. She bought all her make up with her own money, practicing on the family and her friends to,learn the basics so she could enter cosmetology school. And then, two years later, there she was, going to assist the make-up artist of top model Harry Syles for his and Zayn’s Malik Vogue cover.

  
They were approaching the building where the photoshoot was going to take place, and he had to say something to the bundle of nerves next to him.

  
“You’re going to be great, you know that, right, Lotts?”

  
His sister turned her head to him, apparently waking up from the trance she was in. He could see the fear in her eyes.

  
“But what if I fuck up, Louis? What if I spill some make up on his clothes, or I chose the wrong brush, or…”

  
“Stop it, Lottie.’ She was freaking out more every second that passed by and he had to stop her. ‘How many students has Lou had on the last four years? Fifty, fifty-five? This is probably one of her most important jobs, and she picked you out of all those students. Out of fifty people she has chosen you to help her with this, so don’t put yourself down, love. You are amazing at this, and that’s why you are here and why you are going to be perfect. Okay?’

  
He just had finished parking in front of the venue where they were going to be in for a long day when Lottie took his hand.

  
“Thank you, Louis. Not only for driving me here today, but for everything. For being the one who supported me since the beginning, for defending me when mum and dad were worried about this job choice. If I am here today, it’s also because of you. So, thank you.”  
He was not tearing up, he was not. He coughed to get rid of the knot in his throat and smiled at his sister.

  
“Come on Lotts! Let’s see if this Harry Styles is actually hot without make up and at 7 in the morning”.

  
***

  
Harry was starting to get nervous. First, Lou had met him with the news that she wasn’t going to do his make up today. She was going to supervise, of course, but she had a terrible cold and his team wouldn’t let her work on him in case he caught the cold too. He had weeks of promo ahead of him and he couldn’t risk getting sick. And yes, he trusted Lou’s judgment on her assistant, but it was a change either way and this was Vogue.

  
The main reason he was nervous, though, wasn’t that one. He was nervous because it was already past 7am and Zayn, his partner for the photoshoot, was yet to arrive. The magazine production was trying to contact him and his team, and there hadn’t been any luck thus far. He was starting to worry for real.

  
“Harry!” Lou interrupted his mental rambling. He looked at her approaching with a pretty blonde next to her. “Hey, Harry, this is Lottie, my make up assistant. She is the best student I had in ages. I think in a few years she will be way better than I am” joked Lou, clearly trying to ease the very nervous looking girl.

  
“It’s really nice to meet you Lottie,” he told her, extending his hand and trying a kind smile to make the girl feel confident. She met his hand in the middle.

  
“It’s so nice to meet you too. Big fan” she answered, though now instead of seeming nervous, she started blushing a little bit.

  
“Lottie, I’ve caught a cold and can’t work too closely to Harry, so you’re going to do Harry’s make up instead of me,” Lou said, turning towards Lottie.

  
‘WHAT?’ screamed Lottie.She continued in a hiss, as if hoping Harry hadn’t heard her outburst. ‘Lou, I appreciate your trust, but I don’t know if I’m prepared…’

  
‘Lottie, don’t worry, I’ll be right next to you supervising, and you are more than prepared. There’s a reason I picked you out of all of my students,’ Harry overheard Lou reassure her.

  
‘Everything okay, Lotts?’ came a voice from behind him. Harry turned around and almost fainted.

  
Who was this man and why was he so damn hot?

  
He had brown, unevenly swooping hair, amazing cheekbones, thin red lips, and blue eyes deeper than the ocean. Harry corrected himself, hot was not the correct word, he was beautiful. Harry was afraid to looking below the guy’s neck, afraid he was going to get hard right there.

  
“Everything’s fine, Louis” he heard Lottie say, which finally forced Harry to take the eyes away from the Greek God. Lottie looked anything but fine, though. “I just… there’s been some changes, and I’m going to do Harry’s make up myself” continued Lottie, pointing at him. That prompted this guy - Louis, apparently - to look at him for the first time since he approached, and as Harry connected with his blue eyes, Harry swore he felt sparks.

  
***

  
Louis was laughing at his 10 minute ago self. He wanted to know if Harry Styles was hot without make-up. Well, now he had his answer, but he also wanted to run and hide under a table. Harry Styles at 7am with no makeup was, apparently, his wet dream come true. Tall and lean, big eyes, plush lips, gigantic hands, and a kind smile. He was losing himself in the green universe of his eyes, and he realized the main difference from the Harry Styles that usually appeared on the cover of the magazines - in real life, Harry Styles glowed.

  
“Sorry for his interruption,” he heard Lottie say, ironically interrupting his thoughts. Harry snapped his head to her and… was there a tiny pink blush on his cheeks? “That’s Louis, my older brother, he drove me here.”

  
Right, introductions, he could do that. “Oh, yeah, sorry, a little bit rude on my part’” he apologised. He turned towards the woman next to his sister. ‘I’m Louis Tomlinson, you must be Charlotte’s teacher, right?’

  
“The one and only” said the woman. ‘I’m Lou, and I’m so glad to meet you Louis. Lottie has told me how supportive you have been, and let me tell you, that support wasn’t for nothing, she will be a great make up artist one day!’ Lou said. She turned to Lottie “And that’s why you don’t have to worry a little bit about today.”

  
Louis liked Lou so far. He knew his sister was good at her job, but this woman seemed really kind, especially after Lottie had been so nervous. He was turning to try and introduce himself properly to Harry without embarrassing himself too much when a brunette young woman came to Harry with a frantic look in her eyes.

  
“Harry we need to talk now, there’s something we have to figure out as soon as possible” rushed the woman, trying to look calm but totally failing.She reached for his arm.

  
Harry was practically being dragged away by that woman, but managed a “Sorry, I have to go” over his shoulder back towards Louis, Lottie, and Lou.

  
Lou also took that moment to leave. “I should call home. Lux, my daughter,” she gently clarified for Louis, ‘was also feeling uneasy last night, I think she might have caught my cold, I should make sure she’s okay..

  
Louis almost didn’t hear her, though, as he watched Harry’s hips sway as he approached a corner full of people which Louis assumed worked for him or the magazine. But then Lottie released a trembling sigh next to him and right, his sister was freaking out. Time to put on the big brother cape again.

  
***

  
Harry was trying to focus. Yes, Louis was stunning and all, but Glenne had dragged him to a corner full of editors for the magazine, and she almost never lost her nerve, so this was serious.

  
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Now that he looked at them, all these people looked stressed out. Something was really wrong.

  
“Zayn” said James, the director of the photoshoot. ‘He’s not coming’.

  
“What do you mean he’s not coming? Is he sick or something?” Harry asked, starting to get nervous himself.

  
“No, he doesn’t want to come,” barked James.

  
“‘What…? when..?” Harry wasn’t understanding anything.

  
“Apparently his team didn’t told him it wasn’t a solo shoot” Glenne, his manager, clarified for him. “They told him today, and he said he doesn’t want to do it”.

  
“His team told us that he was not willing to share his Vogue issue”’ James angrily continued. James stalked away, muttering about the damages Zayn would be paying for breaking his contract.

  
Harry couldn’t care less how much money Zayn had to pay. He had no partner for a photoshoot that should have started already and he didn’t want it to be called off. He wasn’t the only one.

  
The team started troubleshooting. “We need to find a model right now” said Ben, one of Vogue’s producers.

  
“Can’t Harry do the photoshoot on his own?” asked Glenne. His manager had already a sparkly look in her eyes, imagining the wonders a solo photoshoot in Vogue could do for Harry’s popularity.

  
“No, it has to be a joint issue” answered Ben. “Maybe Zayn doesn’t care about contracts, but we do, and the Editor In Chief wants two men on the cover.” Ben kept going, “Vogue has never done that, and it’s already been announced to the public. What is going to save us is that the model’s identities were going to be kept a secret until release day, so we can swap any other guy for Zayn. The question is where do we find one now, we can’t postpone the shoot for another day”.

  
Everybody was already scrolling for contacts on their phones when Harry heard a laugh from the other side of the studio. He lifted his head from his own phone and he almost fainted again. Louis was keeping a headlock on his sister, ruffling her hair and smiling so wide it created crinkles in the corner of his eyes. Harry wanted to take a picture of his smile and hang it in a museum which…. which was kind of handy at that moment.

  
He coughed to get the attention of the group of people standing around him. “What would you say if I told you I already have a candidate to replace Zayn?”

  
All eyes looked up from their phones and agendas to pay attention to him. “Do you have a friend that can come in today?” asked Ben, almost relieved at having a solution already.

 

“Well, it’s not a friend but…” Harry took a breath to drop the bomb. “What do you think of him?” He pointed to Louis across the room.

  
All heads turned to follow the direction of Harry’s finger until they landed on the masterpiece that was Louis, still smiling breathtakingly at his sister.

  
“Who’s that?” asked Ben, now visibly deflated at not recognizing the man on the other side of the studio.

  
“His name’s Louis, he’s the brother of the make up artist who’s working with me today.”

  
“So not a model? No way. Harry, I appreciate the offer, but this is Vogue we are talking here. Any cute boy off the street is not enough.” scoffed Ben. Harry raised his eyebrows.

  
“As far as I am aware, this photoshoot should have started half an hour ago, and apparently no one else has found a model yet, right?” The silence that followed answered for itself. “I know he probably hasn’t modeled in his life, but I can help him along. And Ben, we both know he is just not a ‘cute boy.’ He is really handsome and has an amazing body. He would fit perfectly, and they can airbrush the rest.’

  
Harry knew that he shouldn’t have made that comment so enthusiastically. Glenne was narrowing her eyes and starting to smirk at him, and he was doing all he could not to blush again.

  
“I mean…” started James, who had returned from checking in with the rest of the crew. He was rudely interrupted by Ben.

  
“No way you are seriously considering this…”

  
“What other options do we have?” James retorted. “This guy is already here, so that will save us time, and as Harry said, he has the body and the face to be a more than decent model. Also, he has a different body shape than Harry, and he’s definitely shorter, and I’m already thinking of some really good scenes that would work marvelously.” He turned to look at Ben, “Of course the last call is on you, but I think we can make a great issue with him.”

  
Now all the eyes were on Ben, who gave one last look at Louis and sighed. “I guess if both Harry and the photographer agree, I’ll go along with it”.

  
Harry felt his stomach turn. He couldn’t believe he was going to have a photoshoot with Louis. That meant touching him, looking at him for long periods of time… he was already regretting his idea, because he wasn’t sure he was going to survive it.

  
They were approaching Louis and Lottie when the pair noticed their group.”Are we going to start soon, Harry?” answered Lottie. She was now pretty calm about speaking to him, which he was glad, she seemed a very nice girl and he wanted her to be at ease here.  
“Yes, we’ll start in a minute, we just need to sort out something first”Harry said as he smiled at her. James took the pause to speak.

  
“Hi, I am James Corden, the director of today’s photoshoot! he extended a hand to both Lottie and Louis, who didn’t hesitate in shaking hands with him. “You’re Louis, right?’” James directed at the man.

  
“Yes…?” questioned Louis, who looked surprised he was being addressed. “I was just talking to my sister here. I was told I could watch the photoshoot behind the scenes, but if that’s a problem I can leave?”

  
“Oh, no, you can stay” continued James. “Actually, we want you to be very present on this photoshoot.”

  
Louis was looking more and more confused with each word leaving James mouth. Harry thought he looked very cute. “I don’t understand, sir.”

  
“Please call me James. And what I was trying to say was….” James took a look around to confirm everybody in the know was totally okay with the decision. When he received some nods, he continued. “Louis, we want you to be Harry’s partner on this Vogue cover.”

  
“WHAT?!”

  
***

  
Louis wasn’t completely sure that they were on May 22nd, he would’ve bet this was an April’s Fool joke. He couldn’t believe all these important people were seriously proposing he should appear on the cover of fucking Vogue magazine. He wasn’t alone, it seemed like Lottie was about to faint right next to him. He stared at each and every face in front of him, and they weren’t smiling, so this had to be a serious proposal. Actually, there was one face smiling - Harry’s. The fucker was smirking. Louis didn’t like him anymore.

  
“Are you serious?’ he couldn’t help but dumbly ask. ‘I mean, I have never modeled for anyone, I don’t know how you expect me to be on the cover of a magazine as important as this one. I’m really sorry but…”

  
“Listen,” Corden interrupted. “We knew you weren't a model when we made the decision of choosing you a few minutes ago. We’ll make this as easy as possible for you - we are the first ones interested in this going smoothly. The model we booked, Zayn Malik, isn’t coming, and right now you are our only option left.”

  
“But how can I be the only option left? I mean, no offence, but how you have even thought of me in the first place?”

  
“We didn’t, Harry did,” the woman that had previously dragged Harry away said, smirking. “He thinks you have the face and the body of a model.”

  
Louis’ eyes went wide and snapped immediately to the top model. Harry was turning really red and avoiding Louis’ eyes. Maybe Louis didn’t dislike him that much; he was very pretty when he blushed.

  
“And we all agree,” continued James. “I have already thought of some great shots we could do with the two of you. You just have to accept”.

  
“Obviously, we are going to pay you for your services,” added a tall, dark-haired man. Louis thought he heard someone call him Bill or Ben before. “And as you can imagine, at Vogue we don’t pay short”.

  
Louis didn’t really know what to do. He was flattered that they had thought of him (and it did something funny to his stomach that Harry was the one that had suggested it) and the money would be very handy, especially when he was struggling with his little job at Toys R Us. But what would the magazine cover entail? Would he become famous? Or would people just focus on Harry and this could be an anecdote he would tell his grandchildren one day? He wasn’t sure what to do.

  
“And if I said no? What would you do then?”

  
“Well, we really hope you don’t, but in that case we would probably had to cancel the shoot and change completely this month’s issue. There’s no way we can find another person to model next to Harry,” sourly commented that Ben-Bill-whoever guy.

  
At that, Louis looked at Lottie. Her sister’s eyes were wide and Louis’ heart broke a little. Charlotte had waited for this one job for weeks, she was so excited to finally do some important make-up, and he couldn’t be the one to take that away from her. He sighed. Previously he had thought driving her from Donny deserved a prize for the best big brother. He wanted a fucking statue for what he was going to do. He turned to his expectant audience.

  
“Just promise me I won’t have to show my willy.”

  
***

  
Harry couldn’t believe this was happening. As the seconds passed before Louis accepted to do the shoot with him, he had started to realize how stupid his idea had been. But Louis had said yes, and now was being measured so they could run to grab him clothes.  
Lottie was now finishing his make-up, using the setting spray on his face and biting her lip nervously. Lou was long gone, starting to assemble the make-up that Louis was going to need. Lottie had finally seemed at ease before, but now she was visibly nervous again, so Harry had to say something to calm her.

  
“Lottie, is everything okay? I loved how you did my make-up, even added some different touches that I really liked, so don’t worry about that.”

  
At that, Lottie’s face lit up, but her eyebrows were still frowning. “I am so glad you like it, Harry, I appreciate it” she hesitated, but finally let it out. “I’m just worried about this Louis’ thing. I swear he is an amazing person, but he is a little sassy sometimes, especially when he feels nervous or intimidated, and I fear he is going to cross some line or screw up this photoshoot.”

  
Harry was right in front of him when Louis agreed to do this, and he was pretty sure that when he had finally accepted, it had been for his sister. He found it pretty unlikely Louis was going to mess this up now.

  
“This is the fashion industry, Lottie” Harry grimaced. “You can’t even imagine the douches I had to come across with all these years. Also, I like a little bit of banter too” he finished, smiling confidently.

  
That seemed to calm Lottie a bit, who quickly scampered to find Lou as Harry was called on set. James had said that they would start with Harry’s individual shots, then Louis would join and they would end with Louis’ individual pictures, after he had gained a little confidence in front of the camera.

  
The shoot was pretty simple. It would take place in front of a green screen with some props, the background edited in after. Harry’s solo pictures were going to take place in some kind of fabricated living room, where there was a square white table, a gray couch, and a pink loveseat, with a white fury carpet covering the ground.

  
For the next hour and a half Harry went through his shoot and three changes of clothes. Even though they were behind on time, they had to wait for the fashion team to finalize Louis’ fittings and for Lottie to do his make-up, so they had time to repeat some shots when James or Harry weren’t totally happy about them.

  
He was just checking the last set of pictures when he noticed movement at the corner of his eye. He had to look twice to be sure he was really watching what his eyes were telling him. Louis was completely stunning. Sure, he had thought exactly the same when he had met him two hours prior, but now Louis deserved to be in a museum like the masterpiece that he was. His hair was a little damp and carefully messy and he had put on make up, a shimmery eyeshadow that made his eyes even a brighter blue and his already high cheekbones even more sharp with a beautiful shade of highlighter. Harry was sure his lips were glossy, but he preferred not to stare at them for his own sanity. He was wearing a robe, so Harry couldn't see what he was wearing for the shoot, but he imagined he somehow should be matching the leather vest and flowery trousers that Harry was going to wear for this next part.

  
The staff had already changed the scene of their joint photoshoot, and that was when Harry remembered: this one was going to take place in a bedroom. Instead of the white table and the pink loveseat there was now just a queen sized bed, given it was the main focus of the shoot. He heard a trembling sigh next to him and turned to look at Louis, who apparently had quietly approached. He looked nervous and Harry couldn't help but get nervous too. But he was the professional one and had to help Louis.

  
"Hey" he said to Louis, who immediately turned to him. Harry couldn't help but feel his own breath taken away when the blue lagoon of Louis eyes focused on him. Fuck, this was going to be hard. "I'll be next to you the whole time, taking you through the duration of the shoot." At that Louis shoulders relaxed a little bit, though something quick that Harry couldn't recognized went through Louis' eyes. "And it may seem imposing, but don't worry about the bed. You have the photographer telling you exactly where you have to be, all these people with the lights and the wires moving around you... It is anything but sexual, believe me."

  
At that, Louis smiled, his eyes crinkling. Harry wanted to wrap him up in a soft, fluffy blanket and cuddle him. Maybe kiss him a little.

  
"Thank you, Harry, that's really nice of you," whispered Louis.

  
"Ten minutes and we start again!" shouted someone at the other side of the studio, popping that little bubble they had created.

  
"I have to go to change my clothes. Talk to James if you have any questions, I'll come back really quickly" Harry assured him. Louis gave him one last smile and turned, looking for James. Harry already missed those eyes. That was going to be the quickest change of clothes in the history.

  
***

  
Louis was waiting for Harry to come back and for the stuff to be finally ready so this ended as soon as possible. Yes, he had talked with Harry just 10 minutes ago, which helped him calm down his nerves, and James Corden had told him again that everything was going to be fine, but damn, this was Vogue magazine. How was he supposed to go through this.

  
He was sitting at the edge of the bed, which didn't help him become calmer, when he felt the bed move. He looked at his right and almost got up and run away. Harry was... sinful. That was the word. He was wearing a black leather vest that showed his long torso. Louis could see his tattoos, his pecs, his nipples, everything. He was wearing black long trousers with some kind of embroidered white flowers. His hair was in a bun with some tendrils falling in front of his big wide green eyes. His lips were very pink.

  
"Ready?" Harry asked with a confident smile.

  
No, he wasn't ready. Of course he wasn't ready. He would never be ready.

  
"Sure" he said, surprising himself with how confident he sounded in his own ears.

  
"Okay" James approached. "Louis, just follow mine and Harry's indications. Harry, just do what you know to do."

  
They both nodded and got up from the bed. Louis got rid of his robe and adjusted his clothes. They had got him a gold sheer shirt where they could see his chest hair. He was wearing leather black trousers that were a little uncomfortable, but Louis realized they matched Harry's vest. He turned around and caught Harry quickly looking away. Was he looking at his bum?

  
The first few poses were simple and comfortable. Sitting back to back on the bed or lying side by side and looking at each other's eyes. At the beginning, it was really weird to put a sexy face, he didn't know how. Harry, though, guided him through it, giving him tips on how to look, in what position he had to put his head or how open his mouth had to be. That last comment shot something through Louis' imagination, and he quickly erased it from his head: he was wearing very tight leather jeans for fuck's sake.

  
After half an hour of the shoot, though, it came the hardest ones. He didn't know how, but he found himself sitting on the side of the bed, looking down at Harry on his knees in front of him, looking up and resting his hands on Louis thighs. Louis was caressing the side of Harry's face. He had to gulp a couple of times and breath deeply to control his mind.

  
"I hope you aren't too uncomfortable," said Harry softly.

  
"It's okay. I usually go on a couple of dates before something like this happens," joked Louis, trying to ease the tension.

  
"So you are the romantic type, then" responded Harry. "I'm sure the ladies are well charmed by you."

  
Louis couldn't help but feeling Harry was fishing for information. He smirked and felt the flash of the camera going off right after.

  
"I don't know about that" Louis shrugged half-heartedly. "I'm not interested in what women think about me to be honest."

  
"Got a girl already, huh?".

  
Totally fishing, then.

  
"Nope, my heart's free right now" he paused, trying to catch Harry's reaction. "And even if it was occupied, I am pretty sure it wouldn't be by someone female."

  
At that, Harry's eyes went wider and smiled. Oh, great, the guy also had a dimple.

  
"Oh, okay" shrugged Harry, like he hadn't lighted up just five seconds before. Louis was thinking of some question to ask Harry to confirm the suspicion about his relationship status (he wouldn't be interested in Louis' situation if he was taken, right?) when James interrupted.

  
"Okay, let's go for the last set up" he shouted over the noise in the studio. "Harry lay with your back on the bed. Louis, straddle him."

  
***

  
May 22nd, the day of Harry' death. How was he supposed to get through this? Louis was the hottest guy he had seen probably ever, and he just found out that he was gay and single. Okay, maybe he didn't just found out and he had basically asked for it, but the point still stood. Add to that, he hadn't had sex for almost six months. There was no way he wasn't going to get hard.

  
"James", he weakly said. "Maybe this pose is too much for Louis? Maybe we should strike a lighter kind of pose? I'm sure it won't make that much of a diff..."

  
“Oh! Don't worry about me!" happily interrupted Louis."I'm feeling way more comfortable that I thought I'd be. If you consider this is necessary for the shoot, I'll do it, no problem."

  
"Great then!" chirped James, who went back to his camera. Louis was looking at Harry with a smirk and something shining in his eyes. Harry had the suspicion Louis knew Harry had been fishing for information on his relationship status, and now Louis was going to make him pay for it. Even though this was going to probably ending up humiliating him, a part of Harry was looking forward to spent the next 15 minutes under that body.

  
He laid down on the bed and let his hair free of the bun after one of the stylists had asked. Before he even realized it, he had Louis above him, his legs framing Harry's hips. Following a request from James, he put his hands on Louis thighs. The flash started going off.  
He couldn't deny this pose was hot, but mostly it felt a little bit awkward. Even though Louis had been amazing during the shoot so far, he still wasn't a model and he hadn't done something like this before, so he was a little stiff. Tasting the waters, Harry began to slowly caress Louis' thighs up and down. He felt a little bit of tension leave his body with every stroke.

  
"I'm glad I wasn't wrong about you. You're doing amazing Louis," Harry felt the need to assure him. He received a breathtaking smile for that comment. So far, this one was Harry's favorite smile of Louis.

  
"Thank you. I'm still surprised somebody would have looked twice in my direction, much less people as important as these ones, and that anyone in the fashion industry would find me adequate for a shoot this important" Louis smiled self-deprecatingly.

  
Harry didn't like this smile. This one was, by far, his least favorite of Louis'. The next words tumbled out of Harry's mouth before he could think twice.

  
"You really aren't aware of how breathtaking you are, are you?"

  
Damn, he wanted to die again. Harry needed to get his brain to mouth filter checked. But Louis wasn't rolling his eyes or making fun of him. His eyes were bright and shiny, and his cheeks were tainted a really beautiful shade of pink. Harry felt his heart skip a beat.  
"Okay, guys we're done!" James popped their bubble for the second time that morning. If he wasn't such a close friend of his, he would be starting to hate him for real. Louis snapped out of the trance he apparently was in and quickly moved out of bed. He rushed to change for his own solo shoot while Harry was ushered to the side so the production staff could start modifying the set for the last time.

  
"Great job H, as always" approached James, who quickly enveloped him in a hug. Harry hugged him back easily.

  
"Thank you, always a pleasure to work with you. I'm dying to see the pictures."

  
"Oh, they are going to be great, especially the ones with both you and Louis" claimed excited the photographer. He came closer to Harry and whispered. "Don't tell anybody, but I think they are going to be better than if we had done the shoot with Zayn."

  
At that, Harry grinned big. "Do you think so?"

  
"I'm sure of it" winked his friend, smiling conspiracionaly.

  
After that, Harry left James to direct the production staff through the construction of the last set and Harry went to change and take off his make-up. Usually, in these kind of shots, when one of the models ended his job for the day, he left the studio. This time, though, Harry really wanted to see Louis model by himself. He went to find Glenne so he could ask her to stay, but before he could do that, he found a note on his dressing room.

_Harry! I had to go and run some errands. I'll probably come back once the shoot is done._

  
At that, Harry arched an eyebrow. They were in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of London, there weren't many places to go and 'run some errands'. He turned the note and went a bright furious red. His manager had left another message.

  
_Enjoy ;)_

  
He was already dreading the teasing that would come from her, but that was a problem that he would face later. When he came out of his dressing room and went back to the main studio, Louis was already shooting, and he looked amazing. The set-up was a home office, with a desk, a huge armchair and a pool table. Initially, Zayn was going to wear three different high-end suits, but it had been impossible to made Louis three of those in less than two hours, so the stylists worked with the fashion department to use a more casual set of clothes instead.

  
Now, Louis was wearing a rich, white wool jumper and some dark jeans. Louis was obviously a lot more inexperienced than Harry, and his part of the shoot lasted almost three hours, something Harry hadn't a single problem with. He spent all of that time sitting near James and admiring Louis from there, and he started to really like Louis. Sure, he was hot and beautiful and breathtaking, but Harry was realizing there was a lot more. He was polite with every member of the crew, he joked a lot with his sister and as the minutes started to pass by, he grew comfortable with all the crew and started to joke and tease backwith them. His laugh was exhilarating to watch, how his eyes crinkled and he threw his head back, and by the time the shoot arrived at its wrapping, he had everyone -even grumpy Ben- around his little finger.

  
Louis went back to his dressing room, and Glenne texted Harry she was arriving in less than 10 minutes, so he started to say goodbye to everyone. After some minutes, Louis returned, already with the clothes he had been wearing that morning, and most of the make-up off, so Harry could see he had left his eyes untouched. Louis approached him and took out his hand. Harry shook it.

  
"Thank you, Harry." Could his heart stop jumping every time this man said his name? It was becoming ridiculous. "It’s kinda your fault that I did this craziness, but I actually enjoyed it, so I guess I have to thank you for the experience."

  
"You're so welcome, it was such a pleasure," responded Harry. "And you really should start considering this modeling thing." They both shyly laughed at that, and God, Harry wanted to take him out. He was just going to ask for his number when a dark past thought crossed his mind and he thought better of it.

  
They exchanged a couple more pleasantries and said goodbye for real. While he was watching Louis put an arm around Lottie and skip to the studio gates, Harry couldn't help but think he was going to regret not asking Louis out. Hell, he was already doing it.

  
***

  
Louis was waiting in line at the grocery store when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around and saw a teenage boy looking at him with a blush on his cheeks.

  
"Can I help you?" asked him Louis.

  
"Um... I just... Are you Louis Tomlinson by any chance?" The kid's voice was trembling, and when Louis looked down he saw the teen was holding a sharpie and a magazine in his hand. When he looked closer, Louis noticed it was he Vogue issue that he featured in.

  
Only one week had passed since the magazine had been released, and in small ways Louis’ life had already started to change. Vogue's twitter account had mentioned Louis own twitter the day of the release, and in the span of 24 hours, Louis had gained two thousand followers. It was when Harry Styles tweeted how much of a pleasure shooting with him had been that Louis had achieved the ridiculous amount of 20.000 followers. It was really weird watching all that anonymous people congratulating him and trying to talk to him by DM. He had to turn off notifications, because his phone was going wild.

  
The rest of his daily life, though, went on as always. He still went to the toy shop 5 days a week: same schedule, same salary, same dreadful, boring job, to be honest. His family treated him the same, and unsurprisingly it wasn't a big of a deal for them. When telling her, Louis' mum found it very amusing that Louis had modeled with Harry Styles, and teased him for a couple of days. Isn't that the magazine you buy when there are hot boys on the cover? Are you going to buy it this time too? Apparently, she found all of that very funny, but when he went home the Sunday after the release for brunch, his mum greeted him with a kiss and a proud you are perfect, Boo. He absolutely did not blush.

  
So, basically, his life was pretty much the same (if he didn't count the times his mind traveled unexplainably to some curly haired top model). So far, though, nobody had asked him for an autograph.

  
"Yes, I am" smiled Louis reassuringly to the kid. Seeing as the boy started blushing even more, Louis tried to help him. "Do you want me to sign your magazine, maybe?"

  
The boy nodded his head up and down so quickly Louis thought his head was going to fall off.

  
"What's your name?"

  
"Mi-Mike."

  
"Mike, do you know this is the first autograph that I’ve ever signed?”

  
“Really?” asked the wide eyed boy.

  
“Yep, so please forgive me if my signature is shit.”

  
“No, no, thank you so much! I didn’t want to bother you!”

  
“It was not a bother at all love, here you go” Louis told him, giving back the magazine.

  
“Thank you so much Louis. I have become a really big fan. Are you going to do any other shoot soon?”

  
And if that wasn’t the million dollar question. Louis still didn’t know how to feel about what had happened at the shooting studio. He had never done anything like that, but surprisingly, he felt really comfortable doing it. He had seen the photos, obviously, and even though it had been weird at first, after a while he liked what he saw. His mum, who was the person that knew him the best in the entire world, had told him that if he wanted to keep trying, she knew someone that could help him. One of Dan’s friends, some guy named Steve, had been the manager of a C-list model for more than ten years. His client, though, had decided to retire because he wanted to have a kid and a family. This Steve guy had just come back from a long vacation and he needed another client.

  
He was thinking about all this while putting the groceries in the car when he received the call.

  
***

  
"I don't like what you are all doing." Harry was frowning at the people in front of him. He was in an office of his agency building and had a bittersweet taste on his mouth just thinking what it was going to happen in that room for the next hour or so.

  
"He agreed to this Harry," said Jeffery, the director of the agency.

  
"No, he has agreed to do a Topman shoot," reminded Harry, pointing to Mr. Payne, Topman’s producer. "He has no idea what he will have to do to get it."

  
"What's really the problem Harry?" replied Jeffery. "You’ve done this before..."

 

"But he hasn't!" interrupted Harry. He was starting to get more and more upset. "That's the whole point!"

  
"You're right Harry. He hasn't done any of this because he’s new. He has done one single photoshoot. That's why he needs the publicity."

  
"How come? He debuted on Vogue's cover. You'd think that would give him enough publicity. I can't believe! Glenne coughed on his left and interrupted his rant. He looked at her and she gave him a pointed look.

  
She was right. He had never fought a PR stunt like he was doing with this one. He could argue that it was because he was tired of doing them, and yes, it wasn't his favorite part of his job, but that wasn’t it. He had really liked Louis, and he didn't want the blue-eyed boy to think this was something Harry requested or to make him feel uncomfortable. Also, Louis thought he was coming to this office to discuss his Topman issue, not to be told how he was going to actively participate in a fake relationship for the public. Sure, that's how this business worked a big part of the time, but he hadn't have to like how these money makers were going to corner Louis.

  
His manager had told Harry about the agency’s intentions the day before. Apparently, the GP not only had loved the issue, they had absolutely adored Harry and Louis together. Everybody was talking about their chemistry. That had turned on the money bulb in his agency’s eyes, who decided it was a good idea to make them do a PR stunt. He still didn't know what story they were going to tell, or how long was it going to last, he just felt bad that Louis had to learn one of the many dark sides of the industry so early on.  
He was going to try and approach the subject in a different way when the knock on the door came.

  
***

  
Louis hadn't attended this kind of meeting before, so he didn't know what to expect. Finding Harry Styles inside that white office, though, was something he could admit he wasn't prepared for. He couldn't say he wasn't happy though. Harry was sitting in an arm chair around a big round glass table. Next to him was his manager; Louis remembered her from the photoshoot. Right in front of them were two man he hadn't seen before.

  
"Good Morning, Mr Tomlinson," one of the men came closer to Louis. He was not very tall (but yes, taller than him), brown hair, thin... Nothing special or remarkable about his look. "I'm Jeff Azoff, director of Azoff's Models Agency. We talked on the phone the other day."  
"Oh, yes! Louis, nice to meet you. This is Steve Aoki, he will be my manager for this project.". Louis pointed to his right, where Steve had just entered the room after him.

  
"For this project and for a lot more of them, hopefully" interjected Steve next to Louis, extending a hand to shake with Jeff. "Nice to meet you".

  
When Louis was offered to model Topman's next season, he couldn't believe it, but something in his gut told him to accept it and try it. He talked to his mum and Dan, and he met with Steve Aoki, Dan’s manager friend, one morning in London. The guy was so cool and they hit it off from the beginning, talking about the industry and how was going to be if he finally did the shoot for Topman. After a couple of beers, they were laughing and joking about the disgrace it was that Chelsea had won that year's Premier League.

  
Everybody shook hands with everybody else around the table, and they proceed to start the meeting. Louis couldn't help feel the electricity when he joined hands with Harry, though the sheepish look the top model gave him in return confused him.  
"So," Liam Payne, the head director of the Topman shoot started speaking. "As you already know, Mr. Tomlinson, we want you to be the model for our next launch. We know you’ve only had one modelling job before, but the reaction has been really positive so far, and we think you are the perfect choice for Topman.” Payne had a kind face, a nice smile. He made Louis feel at ease. "We want our next campaign to be very successful, though, and even though you have gained a lot of popularity, we would like you to be even more well known."  
Louis nodded. He understood it, Topman was a very big project. The sigh that Harry exhaled next to him, though, wasn't really comforting.

  
"And that's where our plan comes in," continued Jeff. "We have thought of a way to increase your popularity." Louis saw Harry wince at that from the corner of his eye. "We want you to participate in a publicity stunt."

  
"A publicity what?" Louis had the feeling that he was always lost in these important modeling meetings around Harry. He must seem stupid.

  
"To put it simply," Jeff answered, "The idea is that you and Harry fake a romantic relationship for the public."

  
***

  
They had it all covered. The official story would be that, after the initial model hadn't turned up to the shoot with Harry, he had asked his boyfriend of two years, Louis, who was with him in the studio, to pose with him. They would be seen for some weeks on different dates and just after Louis' Topman shoot was finished, Harry would confirm on a TV interview that they had broken up in friendly terms due to their professional schedules. It would be less than a month of pretending and then it would all be over.  
Louis was out of the office now, discussing the offer with Steve. Harry had decided to stay on the room and wait for Louis' verdict. Jeff had also proposed Louis become a member of his agency, so there was a lot to consider.

  
On his part, Harry didn't know what to think. The cover up story was good: it was close enough to what had happened on the Vogue shoot, and for the ones looking closely, the dates matched. Harry's last public (and very real and very painful) relationship had been two and a half years prior. It could very possible be that 6 months after, Harry had met someone new and started a new relationship. Reality was much harder: a bunch of one night stands and almost two years of trying to mend his broken heart. He was long over Josh now, not in love with him anymore, but some of the pain still remained.

  
After more than half an hour, Louis and his manager came back. Both had determined expressions on their faces.

  
"My client," Steve started, "has accepted your requirements, Mr. Payne, and he is going to participate on this publicity boost."

  
So it was happening then. Harry would have to act in love with Louis for the paps but at the same time hide the crush he had on Louis from him. If he pulled that through, he wanted an Oscar.

  
"So great to hear this good news," smiled Liam Payne, getting up from his armchair. "I'm looking forward to working with you at the end of this month Mr. Tomlinson."

  
"If we’re going to work together, please call me Louis" replied Louis, shaking Liam's hand.

  
"I'm also so happy to hear that you are joining Azzof's Model Agency Louis" interrupted Jeff, extending his hand. At that, Louis and Steve shared a glance.

  
"About that, Mr. Azzof" said Louis. "I'm afraid I'm not going to join any agency right now."

  
"What do you mean?"

  
"I've talked with my client," stepped up Steve, "and considering this is just his second job, we are still going to see how this all works and how he feels modeling".

  
"If I finally decide this is something I want to dedicate my life to," continued Louis, "I'll start looking out agencies to be a part of, obviously taking in mind yours."

  
Harry couldn't help to let a quiet snort at Jeff's face. He wasn't used to people telling him no, specially starting models. In all seriousness, though, Harry admired Louis decision. You had to have your head on your shoulders to decide that.

  
At last, Louis came to where Harry was standing beside the window. "Tell me Harry, what's your favorite movie genre?"

  
"What?" asked Harry confused, furrowing his eyebrows.

  
"I need to know if we have something in common before I go out on a date with you," winked Louis.

  
At that Harry smirked. "I see. Well, I would love to say I love action or war movies, but I'm a sucker for romantic comedies."

  
"Favourite singer?"

  
"Adele."

  
"Football team?"

  
Harry's smile was getting bigger with each question.

  
"Man U of course."

  
"Hmm, not bad. I guess I could stand you for a couple of hours every now and then. See you next week, Styles."

  
It wasn't normal what Louis' teasing did to Harry's insides. Louis was just following Steve out the door when he called out to him.

  
"Hey wait!" Louis turned around at the sound of Harry's voice. "What about yours? I should know your tastes too."

  
At that, Louis smiled breathtakingly. "I'll tell you on our date, Harold," he said just before exiting the room. Harry was so looking forward to it.

  
***

  
This was, by far, the most surreal thing Louis had done in his entire life. He was currently sitting on a terrace on a fairly crowded street, sharing a frozen yogurt with top model Harry Styles. All that while acting like he didn’t see a paparazzi flashing every fifteen seconds at them from behind a light pole 10 feet away.

  
Just a couple of days later after the meeting, Louis received a call from Steve telling him to be at this frozen yogurt place next Wednesday at four in the afternoon. A day after that, he received a box in the mail with clothes to wear; Steve had managed to close a few deals with a some clothing brands clothes for Louis to wear at his fake dates with Harry. He had to quit his job in Doncaster to attend these “dates” in London with Harry, so the money was a nice bonus.

  
Leaving his job left him a little nervous. Sure, with the money he would receive for wearing the clothes they sent them for these dates, and the pretty big amount he would win after the Topman shoot, and counting his little savings, he could live without struggling for quite some months. But after that, he didn’t have a plan B if no agency or brand called him.

  
He decided to explain to Harry his worries. The afternoon had been so good so far: they had talked about their families, friends, their childhood, and Louis had answered back the questions he threw at Harry the other day (Manchester United fan himself and his favorite movie genre was musicals. Artist? Louis only had two true loves in his life: Britney Spears and the Spice Girls). So they had talked about everything, even a they touched a little of politics (it was just hating on Theresa May, but eh), so he decided he could trust Harry with his worry. Louis stopped his brain from pointing how uncommon was to have that level of familiarity with someone he had just started to really meet less than a couple hours ago.

  
“Harry, can I ask you something?”

  
“Sure. We are on a date after all, aren’t we? It would be weird if we didn’t ask each other stuff?” he smiled. Louis tried with all his will to avoid looking at Harry’s dimple.

  
“When you decided to follow the modelling path, did you have a plan B?”

  
“What do you mean by ‘plan B’?”

  
“I just...what I wanted to really ask you is that if you ever have had a time where you didn’t get any modeling jobs, that you had to start planning another future in case they didn’t call you again.”

  
Louis saw a flashing of understanding in Harry’s eyes. The model smiled reassuringly at Louis.

  
“There was a time, yes. I just finished a campaign with YSL, my very first collaboration with a huge brand, and after that I really thought I was going to get calls from everywhere, right? But this industry isn’t like that, the fact that you fit one brand doesn’t mean you fit all of them. It’s the opposite, actually. You are tagged so easily as a certain type of model. After 6 years, I still haven’t collaborated with a sports brand, something I would really like to do at some point. I don’t go to the gym wearing polished heel shoes,” Harry joked. “But yes, the weeks starting passing and nobody was calling me, so of course I started panicking. The YSL deal had let me have a good amount in the bank account, so I didn’t have to worry much, but I already started living an upper life than what I had lived before, and one night I even decided that I was going to leave London and return home for a while and study something so I could have a good future. That next morning, though, I woke up thinking that I didn’t want to do anything that wasn’t modeling, and I decided I had to find a solution. That’s why I entered Jeff’s agency, actually. There, I started to have little jobs again, with smaller brands but more regularly, and that’s what gave me the stability I needed.”

  
That reassured Louis a little, knowing that Harry had went through a similar situation that the one he was imagining. He was about the change topics to lighter topic when Harry spoke again.  
“I saw you work with Vogue, the most exigent studio in the industry, and I also saw how you stood tall in front of the bosses and the ones who call the shots here.” Harry stopped to smile very fondly in his way, and Louis didn’t felt a tug in his heart at all. “You won’t have a single problem surviving in this industry, Louis, I’m telling you.”

  
***

  
Remember Louis is spending the night at yours today, Glenne’s text said. As if Harry could forget it.

  
Today was their third date . After the first two, the public had gone mad about them, they were the hottest topic on the celeb world right now. Louis had also been papped a couple of times too, both in Doncaster where the paparazzi had found him, so the agency thought Louis should start spending the nights in London, and preferably Harry's flat. There had been already an article in People identifying Louis as Harry's long term boyfriend, and they explained Louis was in Doncaster visiting his family, but he had lived with Harry in his flat for more than a year. Hence, Louis spending the night after their date today. Hence, Harry cleaning and tidying his home all day yesterday. He wasn't a messy person, but he wanted Louis to find his apartment perfect. Harry decided to ignore the reasons behind that.

  
"Hi baby cakes," said a voice behind him and Harry immediately smiled. They started calling each other pet names, the most cheesy they could imagine. They had found a way to make the dates more fun, teasing each other and laughing at the situation.

  
"Hi sweet cheeks," responded Harry. At that Louis’ smirk got deeper. They had been told to meet at the park, when they were going to have a picnic on the grass for lunch. Louis stepped closer and hugged him. At that Harry was startled, because the hired pap was supposed to be waiting for them at the designated lunch spot, but quickly responded to the hug. Louis smelled amazing, like cinnamon and something else that Harry supposed it had to be Louis' own scent. When they parted, Louis had a pretty blush on his cheeks.

  
"Sorry I..." he coughed. "I think I saw someone pointing their phone at us," explained Louis, who was avoiding Harry's eyes. Interesting.

  
"It's okay," answered Harry, raising the arm that was holding the picnic basket. "Hungry?"

  
***

  
Louis still felt stupid acting like they didn't see the paps. They were so close, it was impossible to miss them. But besides that, dates with Harry had become something he was now used to, and that was a problem really. Sure, he was glad they were comfortable around each other and that these pretend dates weren't something dreadful for them, but the issue was that Louis had stopped pretending ten minutes into their first date.

  
They haven't kissed, because that wasn't required of them, just some hugs and hand holding were apparently enough, but kissing Harry was something Louis had spent a lot of time thinking about lately. He wanted to kiss him, and he was starting to fall for Harry for real. And that couldn't happen, because in two weeks all this would end.

  
"Oh my god, these sandwiches are so good," commented Louis, trying to shake off all those thoughts. They were sitting on a blanket under a huge tree. "They go all out to keep us happy, huh?"

  
At that, Harry bit his lip, looking sheepish. Louis narrowed his eyes until something clicked in his brain. His eyes went wide.

  
"Wait! Did you make this meal Harry?"

  
"I may have?"

  
"Wow Harry, you didn't have to do that." If Louis had known that, he would have brought something too. He told Harry so and the green eyed boy waved his hand dismissively.

  
"Don't worry, I like cooking, it’s something I really enjoy doing," shrugged Harry.

  
"Well, anyway, thank you so much for all this bother. And congratulations, because everything is really amazing."

  
Harry's face lit up at that. Louis wanted to make him smile like that for the rest of his life.

"Thank you Louis," said Harry, whose smile immediately turned mischievous. "Also, this was the only option, huh? If you had cooked, we would be on our way to the hospital right now."

  
Louis scoffed at Harry. "What are you talking about? I'll let you know I'm a fantastic cook."

  
"Sure, that's how you made all your family sick that time you baked cookies."

  
And wait. How did Harry know about that story? "How do you know about that story?" he asked, outraged. Harry was in a fit of giggles by now.

  
"Lottie told me about it during the Vogue shoot.”

  
"My own sister and my fake boyfriend talking about me behind my back!" gasped Louis dramatically. Harry cackled. "I will not let that happen again!" continued Louis with his fake angry scandalized voice, and threw some cherries at Harry.

  
That started a lame food fight, both of them giggling like little kids and wrestling on the floor. Louis didn't know when or how, but he found himself straddling Harry and messing his curls. Little by little their laughs subsided and they locked eyes. Harry had a pretty blush on his face, his breath was a little ragged, and Louis wanted to kiss him so, so much. When he looked up from Harry's lips, he saw Harry was looking at his own mouth, and Louis felt his heart skip a bit.

 

***

  
It was one of the flashes of the paps that startled them both and suddenly Harry didn't have a lapful of Louis anymore. Harry really needed to control his feelings or he was going to do something stupid. The rest of the date was okay, one couldn't get bored around Louis, but Harry couldn't help but feeling a thick tension between them. And not a bad one, a really charged good tension. How he was going to sleep under the same roof as Louis tonight, Harry didn't know.

  
It was past 10pm when they arrived at Harry's building. They had gotten a cab from the park to Harry's neighborhood. Harry lived in a penthouse in one of Londor upperclass neighborhoods. He couldn't help but feel sheepish just before opening the door to the apartment. At the end of the day, Louis still lived in Doncaster, in a shared flat with two of his mates. Harry knew he wasn't doing anything wrong, he had money and had bought a nice place to live, but he didn't want to come across as cocky.

  
"So," said Harry once the front door was closed behind them. "Do you want me to give you a little tour?"

  
Louis followed him around to the wide kitchen, the open living room, the library, his bedroom and the guest bathroom.

  
"And this is the bedroom where you are going to stay. Hope you find it comfortable." Earlier that day, Harry had received a package with toiletries and some clothes for Louis to sleep in and for the next day. The next morning there was going to be a pap outside Harry's flat, so they had to give the impression Louis was living there. He couldn't be seen leaving the building with the same clothes as the day before.

  
"Do you want to have dinner? I can call take out or make a quick salad if you want."

  
"I'm not really hungry. You killed me with that lunch Harry, I hadn't eaten that much for a while."

  
"Okay, I'll leave you then", Harry smiled down at Louis, who looked really tired. "You have to leave early tomorrow morning, right?"

  
"Yes, I do, I have my best mate's birthday party, so I have to make it to Donny in time."

  
"Okay, sleep tight Louis." Without thinking about it, Harry bent down and kissed Louis on the cheek. He heard Louis gasp lightly beside him. Harry was so embarrassed, but decided the best way to save this situation was acting as nonchalantly as possible. "See you tomorrow morning," Harry said softly just before turning around and going to his bedroom. He was closing the door when he heard a quiet “ Goodnight, Haz” behind him.

  
***

  
Louis woke up to the smell of a fry up. At first, he felt disoriented, the light coming from the wrong direction, but once he opened his eyes, he remembered where he was. He was at Harry's penthouse, and the first thing he felt was Harry's lips on his cheek. The kiss had caught him off guard and it had left a fuzzy feeling under his skin until he fell asleep.

  
He went to the kitchen after having a quick wee in the guest bathroom. Harry was already up, and was making breakfast. He turned around to place two plates on the table when he spotted Louis. Harry's smile appeared in his face immediately.

  
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," teased Harry. "I hope you like bacon and eggs. I also made you some Yorkshire tea. Milk, no sugar, right?"

  
Louis wondered if ”marry me” was an acceptable answer to Harry's inquiring. He couldn't believe Harry had woken up early to make him breakfast, and even less that he remembered the way Louis' took his tea. He had commented it on their second date after having ordered a pretty bad tea at the coffee shop they were at.

  
"Good morning, Harry. Everything is perfect, but you didn't have too. Yesterday picnic was already too much."

  
"Shush you. You are a guest in my home. What kind of host would I be if I didn't make you breakfast?" Harry's face was serious, so Louis let it go.

  
"Okay, okay," he raised his palms. "Thank you for this breakfast, then." That seemed to satisfy Harry a lot more.

  
"You're welcome."

  
They chatted about mundane things during breakfast while listening to the news on the radio. At 10am, Louis was showered and ready to leave. When he entered the living room, he saw Harry also dressed up and waiting by the door.

  
"Are you leaving too?"

  
"Yeah, I'm meeting my sister for an early lunch, but I feel like walking today, so I'm leaving now."

  
When they left the building, Louis could see a pap on the other side of the road. When he spotted them, he started with the flash. He also saw the taxi waiting for him in front of Harry's building door that was going to get him near the park, when Louis had left his car yesterday.  
"Well, have a blast at your friend's birthday party, Louis," Harry turned to look at him.

  
"I will. I'll see you in two days on our date to the movies." He smiled at the taller boy. Being aware of thee pap behind him, Louis decided to go wild and started inching closer to Harry, and finally, closing the gap between them and joining their lips together.

  
Louis had gone for a simple goodbye peck, so he was surprised when suddenly Harry deepened the kiss. He put one hand on Louis’ hip and the other behind his neck to tug him even closer. Harry was moving his lips against his, passionately but softly at the same time, and if it wasn't for Harry's hands holding him, Louis thought he would have fallen to the floor considering how much his knees were shaking.

  
Louis had spent the last couple of weeks imagining how it would be to kiss Harry, and now that it was happening, he thought he was going to die. The kiss was perfection: Harry's plush lips against his, the hand on his neck caressing the little hairs there, their chests pressed one against the other. Louis arms moved on his own accord and circled Harry by the waist, gluing them even closer, if that was possible.

  
He didn't know how much it lasted, it felt like hours and one second at the same time. Before breaking apart, Harry gave him one last peck on his mouth before turning around and leaving Louis dumb.

  
***

  
So they kissed now. Harry would had never had the guts to initiate a kiss with Louis, but when the blue eyed man did it in front of his door, his couldn't have just a peck. Louis’ mouth was like a drug, he wanted more and more, so they made out for a few minutes. Obviously, the pap had caught it, and the internet had gone mad once the pictures were released. He had received questioning messages from his mum and sister, who knew Harry had never participated this explicit in a stunt before. Glenne had just sent him a smirking, emoji, the fucker. On the other side, Jeff was over the moon. Even though Louis wasn't a part of the agency, Harry was, and he was gaining a lot of publicity too. Sure, Harry was already considered one of the world's top models, but it was something very different seeing him in love with someone. Jeff congratulated him on his good acting skills, telling him the public was eating up the relationship. Little he knew, there was almost zero acting on his part.

  
Because of course he had fallen in love with Louis. How he could not. He had had a crush on him since he met him, liking him even more by each passing date. And now that they kissed on their dates, Harry was done for. It just wasn't hot kisses with Louis. Whether it was an innocent peck or a full make out session (that had happened on a pub one night, Jeff had asked him after to tone it that a bit), Harry felt something tugging at his heart, at his stomach, even at his brain that screamed at him he couldn't let this boy go, that he had to do something to keep him. He wanted to have Louis in his home always. Louis had told him that he wanted to move from Doncaster and was looking for a flat in London, and Harry had to bite his tongue to not ask him to move in with him. He loved the quiet nights they had on Harry's terrace when Louis spent the night, talking about everything. Harry had told him all about Josh, how his first boyfriend had cheated on him every time he left for some photoshoot. How he had found him with another guy in their bed one time he came home earlier without telling him, because stupid Harry thought it would be a nice surprise. That night, Louis hugged him for a long time and then improvised a karaoke party with just the two of them where only 'fuck you' break up songs were allowed. That night had been perfect, though they didn't kiss. No, they just kissed in front of the cameras.

  
They were now on their last date, and Harry tried to make the lump in his throat disappear. In a week, Louis would have his Topman photoshoot, and just the day after Harry had to confirm on a live interview that he and Louis had broken up, just a few days before Louis' campaign aired.  
Louis was returning from the loo of the restaurant they were at. Harry didn't want to say goodbye to him. Not now, not ever.

  
"Well Hazza, ready to leave your last date?" he asked. "Now you’re free to date again, this time for real," said Louis, with what Harry thought was a sad smile on the boy's face. Or maybe it was Harry's own feelings that he wanted to see reflected on Louis' face.

  
"Let's go," he simply answered. The hired pap for the night had already left, and Louis didn't have to come back to Harry's.

  
"Harry, thank you for everything. It's been a pleasure meeting you, and I'm so happy I can call you my friend." Friend . That word sent daggers to Harry's heart. He didn't want to be Louis' friend, he wanted to be so much more. He wanted to be everything for Louis.

  
"You don't have to thank me for anything," dismissed Harry. "Text me to tell me how the shoot goes after tomorrow?"

  
Louis went forward and hugged him tight. Harry closed his eyes to ease the pain and hugged him even tighter. "I'll do, don't worry." They separated from the hug. "See you, yeah?"

  
Harry nodded as he watched Louis walk away. He wanted to run and beg him to stay with him, but he couldn't. In less than a week he had to tell the world he wasn't with Louis anymore and that he had stopped hugging him and talking to him. That he had stopped kissing him. As he watched Louis turn the corner, Harry felt his heart break for the second time in his life.

  
***

  
Louis and his mom were at a coffee shop on a Saturday morning. They had met early to go apartment hunting and they were just starting the day with a boost of caffeine. The Topman shoot had gone really well, and it was the last confirmation Louis needed to know modelling was the job that would fill his heart. After years of dropping courses because none of them fulfilled his expectations and countless jobs that he found nothing but boring, he had finally found what he was born for. He loved posing in front of a camera and he was excited to know what his next projects were going to be. Steve had booked him an audition for a couple of TV commercials. One of them was for Pepsi, and if he got the job (Steve said he was the main candidate for it), he would appear at the SuperBowl halftime show. It would mean travelling to the US, a place he hadn’t visited before, and that would probably give him even more job offers.

  
So yes, he was really excited for the next chapter of his life and even more now that he was going to find a nice apartment in London. But even though all that, he couldn’t stop missing Harry. He missed him at all hours; everything reminded him of the curly haired man and the way he had fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with him. And that was a problem, because in less than 20 minutes, Harry would tell the world that they had broken up for good on a live interview on the BBC. Louis had never been heartbroken, never had fallen properly in love before, and to be honest, he would’ve preferred to continue that way if being in love meant your heart would hurt this much.

  
“You don’t seem very excited considering you’re going to have a new home in London,” his mum interrupted his thoughts.

  
“No, no, I really am. I’m just tired, is all.” Louis shook his head in a hopefully dismissive way. His mum knew better though.

  
“Boo, why didn’t you tell Harry you were in love with him?”

  
“What?! I am not in love with him. You know it was just a fake relationship, mum.” At that his mother raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t lie to his own mother. She was his best friend and knew him better than anyone in the world. “Okay, maybe I did fall for him. But it doesn’t matter now.”

  
“Of course it matters! What do you have to lose Louis?” She had a point. He could argue they were friends and that he didn’t want to lose their friendship, but that would also be a lie. They hadn’t talked like they used to when they were stunting. Harry just texted him a cute gif wishing him good luck the day of the photoshoot, he thanked him, and that was it. They haven’t called each other like they had promised they would. Louis didn’t because it hurt too much hearing that voice and knowing that he wouldn’t kiss the mouth behind it anymore. As for Harry, he didn’t know. Louis just assumed he had just returned to the fancy life of a Top Model and forgot about that new kid he had to stunt with.

  
“Mum. Listen, there’s no point on going on with this. Even though we’re in the same business, he is ages far away from me, we have very different lives. I just have to get over him. Besides, ” he continued when saw his mum was going to interrupt him, “it would be stupid to tell him now. He is going to confirm our break up to the public in less than ten minut...” his voice caught off when he saw Harry’s face on the coffee shop TV. Of course they would have BBC on.

  
***

  
Harry knew that what he was about to do was reckless, stupid, and irresponsible. He was going to break some probably huge clause in his contract and it could be for nothing in return. But damn him if he wasn’t going to at least try. He was convinced not only that he was hopelessly head over heels for Louis but also that Louis was the one for him. If he believed in soulmates, Louis would be his without a doubt.

  
He missed him terribly. He found it hard to fall asleep at nights thinking about him. How Louis was supposed to be next to him in his ridiculous king sized bed, how they should go on dates together, real ones this time. So, he was going to throw his common sense through the window and changed plans live on national TV.

  
He was already in his seat for the interview. In front of him was Niall Horan, the presenter of the show. The camera woman was counting down from 5 to 0.

  
“Good Saturday morning Britain and welcome to ‘BBC Hangovers’. I’m Niall Horan and today we are interviewing one of the most loved British top models, Harry Styles!” Niall turned to him. “Good morning Harry, thank you for being here with us today”.  
“Thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure,” Harry smiled politely. He hoped the cameras weren’t catching his trembling hands.

  
“We have a lot to discuss today, but first let me tell you, your fans have been worried for the last few days. Apparently, you and your boyfriend Louis Tomlinson haven’t been seen together for a while and you guys haven’t interacted in your social media lately either. Some of them think there may be problems in paradise. What can you say about that, Harry?”

  
That was it.

  
“Oh, we’ve just been busy, is all.” Harry could see from the corner of his eye some movement behind the cameras. He decided to ignore it and go on with his plan. “I have new projects on, Louis does too. But everything’s okay.”

  
At that, Niall Horan sent him a confused glare. He was told by Harry’s team that there was going to be some kind of break up exclusive, and this was the opposite of that. “So, you are still together then?”

  
“Yes, of course, always” he took a breath and decided it was all or nothing. “I am deeply in love with him, have been for a while.” He turned to look at the camera before his next words. “As long as he wants me, I’ll be with him.”

  
After that, he exhaled all the air he had been keeping in without realizing. He dared to look behind the cameras this time. Jeff’s color had drained from his face and he was looking at Harry with wide eyes. Next to him, Glenne had hidden her face behind a netbook and Harry could see her shoulders shaking.

  
“Oh, well, hmm” Niall tried to go on. “I’m happy everything with you two is still going strong. You are definitely Great Britain’s favorite couple. But let’s go on with the interview, because we have a lot more to talk about.”

  
***

  
Louis was looking at the TV screen, but he wasn’t watching anymore. He was sure his mouth was hanging open, but he didn’t care. Did Harry just say he was in love with Louis? He was 99% certain the stunt hadn’t changed last minute, someone would have called to tell him. And Harry looked really nervous, Louis saw his hands fidgeting. He didn’t know what to think, what to say, or what to do. Thankfully, his mum was next to him to save the day like she always did.

  
“Louis, it’s been like twenty seconds since Harry has proclaimed his love to you on national television. I really don’t know what you are still doing here and not running through half of London to go and meet him.”  
Louis didn’t need to hear more. He jumped out of his seat and started running towards the coffee shop door.

  
***

  
Harry had managed to avoid Jeff at the end of the interview. He was sure his agent wanted to murder him at that moment, but he first had to go and apologize to Niall and the BBC for not having the break up exclusive. Probably he would need to arrange a compromise with them, and that would mean Harry would have to appear again on the channel, but he didn’t care right now. As for Glenne, she just rolled her eyes at him and threw him a rather fond talk to you tomorrow, you trouble maker and continued with whatever she was doing, probably trying to make amends for the mess he had just created.

  
Harry just wanted to go home. He wanted to go home and hide in his sheets until he had news from Louis, if that ever happened. He was arriving at the BBC’s carpark when he stopped right on his feet. There, with a hand resting on Harry’s car and gasping like he had just run the New York City marathon, was Louis. Even though he looked sweaty, with his hair all messed up, Harry couldn’t help but marvel at how breathtaking Louis was.

  
“Lou-Louis?”

  
At that Louis head snapped and turned to look at Harry. They looked at each other for minutes, just green against blue. Finally, Louis spoke. “Hi Harry.”

  
“How did you get here?” Harry was definitely stupid. What kind of question was that? He had just admitted to this gorgeous man in front of him that he was deeply in love with him on national TV, and he asked him how did he enter a private car park?  
“I just got in when some car was getting out. BBC should really check and improve his security by the way.”

  
“ What are you doing here?” This one was a more acceptable question.

  
At that, Louis smiled. “See, I was having a nice coffee time with my mum at some place twenty minutes away from here, when some rude guy interrupted us.” Harry frowned at that. “He was on TV, some guy named Harold or Henry, something like that. Apparently he’s in love with me?”  
At that, Harry blushed so hard and couldn’t help feel his smile grow bigger at every word Louis said.

  
“And that made you come running here? To tell me the story about this guy?” Harry asked. He didn’t know what Louis was going to say next, but he knew what he hoped for.

  
“Of course I had to. It’s not every day you’re told that on national television. Also,” at that, Louis’ glance became serious. “I had to tell him that I have been in love with him for a while too, and that I really would like to ask him out on a date. We could go to a park, to the cinema, to watch some footie, to...”

  
Harry knew Louis enough now to know he was going to keep rambling until Harry said something. Harry, though, had a knot on his throat and couldn’t utter a single sound, so he did the only thing he could do. He shortened the distance that separated him from Louis and shut him up with a kiss.

  
This one was by far their best kiss. Harry poured everything in his heart into his lips and he could feel Louis doing the same. They were holding each other all over their bodies, but at the same time so liberating that they were smiling and laughing between kisses. Harry hadn’t felt that happy in a long time, maybe ever.

  
After God knows how much time, they separated and hugged each other tight. “You’re so stupid,” Harry told Louis laughing. “Who runs through London for twenty minutes? A phone call would have been enough, you idiot.”

  
Louis squealed and tilted his head back to look him at the eye. “I’m the idiot? I didn’t go off the rails on a very serious contract and told someone I was supposed to break-up with live on tv that I love him!”

  
“Well, you’re worth it,” Harry retorted honestly. Louis flushed all over, and Harry loved every second of it.

  
“You are worth it too,” Louis told him. Harry thought his heart was going to combust. “What about we go on that date, huh?”

  
“Perfect” answered Harry. He couldn’t think of a better plan for the day. “Where are you taking me then?” asked Harry as he opened his car.

  
“Well, how do you feel about a coffee date?” proposed Louis, climbing into the copilot seat. Once Harry was in front of the wheel, he continued. “And maybe meeting my mother?” asked Louis, biting his lip. “At the end of the day, I did totally abandon her on a coffee shop in a city she doesn’t know well.”

  
“Let’s see,” pondered Harry, starting the car and directing them to the carpark gate. “We are going on our first date after we kissed a handful of times and already said we love each other,” he turned to look at Louis, who was already smiling at him. “At this point, I guess we can throw the meeting the parents moment onto this first date too.” Harry pecked him one more time, took Louis hand, and drove them to their future together.

  
THE END.


End file.
